ProtozoaDB: comparative genomics approaches for the study of protozoan
species
Alberto M. R. Dávila
Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Pólo de Biologia Computacional e Sistemas
(http://www.pbcs.fiocruz.br)- Fiocruz
ProtozoaDB (http://protozoadb.biowebdb.org) has been developed to initially host both
genomics and post-genomics data from Plasmodium falciparum, Entamoeba histolytica,
Trypanosoma brucei, T. cruzi and Leishmania major, but will also host other protozoan species
as more genomes are sequenced or new sequences deposited at GenBank. It is based on the
Genomics Unified Schema and offers a modern Web-based interface for user-friendly data
visualization and exploration. Protozoan orthologs have been identified and are being explored
as potential markers for genotyping, aiming to develop and validate a multiplex PCR assay
(MLST) for the genotyping of samples deposited in the Trypanosomatid and Leishmania
collections of the Oswaldo Cruz Institute (Fiocruz). Those orthologs will also help us to infer the
evolution of protozoan species using a phylogenomic-based approach.